Easily the most popular song ID request in the Adtunes.com Forums lately would have to be for the new Gears of War TV commercial. The Gears of War video game is being hyped as the "killer app" for the Xbox 360 game console, which we imagine many executives at Microsoft are hoping drive Xbox sales just in time for the holiday shopping season.

The Gears of War ad is a great example of "machinima" animation. Machimia, which is short of machine animation, is defined as the process of creating films entirely within a computer 3D virtual environment, usually a video game engine. In the case of the Gears of War spot, it was created using the Unreal 3 game engine. The ad was directed by Joseph Kosinski (with help from director David Fincher) and produced by Digital Domain in Los Angeles.

The Gears commercial uses the very popular cover of "Mad World" by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews, originally by Tears for Fears (via iTunes). This particular "Mad World" cover first appeared on the Donnie Darko soundtrack (via iTunes). The Gary Jules "Mad World" cover became so popular (far beyond the Donnie Darko film itself), it was the number one single in the UK in December 2003, two years after the Donnie Darko film was released. The song has appeared in commercials for the F/X show Thief and in the soundtracks of Mr Harvey Lights a Candle, CSI, Without a Trace and several other TV shows. (via kottke)

Gears Of War Microsoft Amazon Video Games Price:

Donnie Darko (Score) Everloving Jake Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daveigh Chase, Mary McDonnell, James Duval, Arthur Taxier, Patrick Swayze, Mark Hoffman, David St. James Amazon Music Price: